THIRTY-FIFTH ANNUAL CONVENTION. 89 



just the same as if it was for husking. I cultivate it just the 

 same and when it arrives at the proper stage when the kernels are 

 dented and turning hard and the stalks begin to turn brown at 

 the bottom, I then put it in my Silo. One trouble has been dur- 

 ing the past, that we have put it in too green. This will make 

 sour and unsatisfactory ensilage. When I started eight years 

 ago to fill my Silo, there were three of us filled together. I built 

 the first Silo and two neighbors built one the next year. When 

 we started filling the Silo together, everyone wanted to fill first, 

 thinking that they obtained the best feed in this way. We soon 

 just changed round and we all wanted to fill last. We soon 

 found that the nearer corn was matured the sweeter silage we had 

 and the better it agreed with the cattle to whom it was fed. 



Now you are going into the dairy business and you want to 

 get as much out of it as you possibly can and I want to say to 

 you candidly, that after having had eight years experience with 

 a Silo and feeding ensilage, if I could not have one, my farm 

 would be for sale. I could not afford to keep it for the reason, 

 I could not make interest on the money I have invested in it. I 

 would dislike to stand before you and advise any one man in your 

 community to build a Silo. In order to get the most out of it 

 and to be at small expense to fill it, two or three farmers should 

 go together. Then the work of filling the Silo is the same kind 

 of a job as threshing is and is no greater. 



Now in conclusion, I want to say a few words to you on 

 another point, and that is, in caring for the material, such as milk 

 and cream after you have produced it. We are up against a 

 hard proposition in this country over the quality of our butter. 

 Conditions have arisen that has made it almost impossible to get 

 a first-class product. As a result of this, we are threatened with 

 a substitute coming in and taking the place of our butter. While 

 the four leading markets last year showed a decrease of 8 per 

 cent in our dairy products, there was 28 per cent increase in the 

 oleomargarine product. This is an alarming state of affairs and 

 sooner or later unless we produce a finer article than we are pro- 

 ducing today, there is danger that this substitute will step in and 



